As title states, I am approx. 4 stone overweight (obese) and have been out jogging last night and the night before. I do a lot of brisk walking throughout the week in the daytime and feel ready to pick the pace up a bit under the cover of darkness!!
I am out for about 30 mins in total and ease the walking up to brisk then into bursts of jogging as long as I can manage, then back down to brisk walking. I recover from the jogging bursts and can go again pretty quickly but can probably only manage to jog for about 2-3 minutes at a time at this stage.
When I get home, I take care to stretch my muscles out and replace lost fluids.
When I get back I feel awesome and love the warm feeling in my legs and muscles (never thought I'd say that!) This morning, I have slight achiness in my shins - not the bone, but the muscle (?) that runs down the outside edge? Is this okay? Does this mean I should not go tonight? I really enjoy it - releases stress well!
I am new here so 'hello everyone and thanks in advance for any replies'.
:0)

You may get lots of different opinions - but basically jogging and brisk walking does not make much difference weight wise, calorie wise... but it does to your joints and cardio system....

My advice is stick to brisk walking until you are about 50-60lbs from your goal weight, then get a medical check up - discuss your exericse thoughts with your GP/doctor and take their advice as to whether you are ready.

You may get lots of different opinions - but basically jogging and brisk walking does not make much difference weight wise, calorie wise... but it does to your joints and cardio system....

My advice is stick to brisk walking until you are about 50-60lbs from your goal weight, then get a medical check up - discuss your exericse thoughts with your GP/doctor and take their advice as to whether you are ready.

Walking is great exercise and will help you lose weight. According to my gastroenterologist, 1 mile uses approx 100 calories, but that would depend on the speed/intensity. It should help that you are alternating your walking with jogging.

Please read the following post for further information regarding walking and weight loss:

If you aren't used to exercise on a regular basis, it's normal for your muscles to "feel it".. Just make sure that you aren't overdoing it and it's a good idea to check with your doctor to make sure you are healthy enough for vigorous exercise and don't have any underlying problems that are causing your weight gain or might prevent losing weight.

I think you are probably okay exercising daily, however, maybe it would be a good idea to walk/jog one day, then just walk the next in order to give your muscles a chance to rest.

Walking is great exercise and will help you lose weight. According to my gastroenterologist, 1 mile uses approx 100 calories, but that would depend on the speed/intensity. It should help that you are alternating your walking with jogging.

Please read the following post for further information regarding walking and weight loss:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/768155

If you aren't used to exercise on a regular basis, it's normal for your muscles to "feel it".. Just make sure that you aren't overdoing it and it's a good idea to check with your doctor to make sure you are healthy enough for vigorous exercise and don't have any underlying problems that are causing your weight gain or might prevent losing weight.

I think you are probably okay exercising daily, however, maybe it would be a good idea to walk/jog one day, then just walk the next in order to give your muscles a chance to rest.

I have googled the subject and get confused with the many different answers, I was wondering if anyone had any personal experience.
I am most confused about why/how brisk walking is better for weight loss than actual jogging - I am fine with this by the way, I would much prefer brisk walking, plus I am pretty brisk! lol
The achiness I have does feel like 'good' achiness rather than pain. In pounds, I have 68 to lose to goal.
Before starting my diet, my Doc said walking is good but will take years unless I can do loads briskly so I thought I was being clever by jogging! Sometimes during the day, I have 'on foot' children with me so the pace is more sedate, the children in pushchairs obviously make no difference, if anything, they add a little resistance aspect to it as I have to push an extra 3-5 stone along too depending on whos riding!!
Will check the link out, many thanks.

I have googled the subject and get confused with the many different answers, I was wondering if anyone had any personal experience.
I am most confused about why/how brisk walking is better for weight loss than actual jogging - I am fine with this by the way, I would much prefer brisk walking, plus I am pretty brisk! lol
The achiness I have does feel like 'good' achiness rather than pain. In pounds, I have 68 to lose to goal.
Before starting my diet, my Doc said walking is good but will take years unless I can do loads briskly so I thought I was being clever by jogging! Sometimes during the day, I have 'on foot' children with me so the pace is more sedate, the children in pushchairs obviously make no difference, if anything, they add a little resistance aspect to it as I have to push an extra 3-5 stone along too depending on whos riding!!
Will check the link out, many thanks.

I think that perhaps the brisk walking versus jogging is often recommended as many people can sustain the brisk walking for longer periods of time than the jogging and therefore more total calories burned per session.

My concern is regarding your shins and their surrounding muscles. This is something that you will want to watch carefully. If you are feeling discomfort in these areas, you will want to take it carefully and definitely do more brisk walking and less jogging until the pain goes away completely. This pain can be caused and increased by the types of surfaces that you jog/walk on. Concrete is the worst. Asphalt is not so good either, but a bit more forgiving than concrete. Your best bet overall is a natural surface, preferably dirt or grassy areas. Unfortunately this is a very hard learned lesson my part that caused me a great deal of pain last year. Ice, elevation, and rest to those areas are especially helpful.

Have a peek at my profile if you like....walking/jogging/running is definitely my thing. ; )

I think that perhaps the brisk walking versus jogging is often recommended as many people can sustain the brisk walking for longer periods of time than the jogging and therefore more total calories burned per session.

My concern is regarding your shins and their surrounding muscles. This is something that you will want to watch carefully. If you are feeling discomfort in these areas, you will want to take it carefully and definitely do more brisk walking and less jogging until the pain goes away completely. This pain can be caused and increased by the types of surfaces that you jog/walk on. Concrete is the worst. Asphalt is not so good either, but a bit more forgiving than concrete. Your best bet overall is a natural surface, preferably dirt or grassy areas. Unfortunately this is a very hard learned lesson my part that caused me a great deal of pain last year. Ice, elevation, and rest to those areas are especially helpful.

Have a peek at my profile if you like....walking/jogging/running is definitely my thing. ; )

I would agree with lucinda in that you can sustain the brisk walking longer than the jogging and will likely burn more calories. I think you will do fine - just keep working at it and make sure you watch what you eat.

It might be helpful to keep a food journal to keep track of what/how much you eat. There are several web sites that let you do that online. Spark people and live strong are 2 of them.

I'd also recommend that you go ahead and set up the exercise and weight trackers here on MedHelp. They will help you keep track of what you are really doing.

I also recommend that you wear a pedometer - that way you can tell exactly how far you are walking on a daily basis. I put mine on everyday when I get dressed for work and don't take it off until I get home and get undressed again. Today I actually did 9976 steps or 5.98 miles - that was just at work, then walking the dogs when I got home!! The goal is 10,000 steps/day, but often I do more than that - I bet you do too. You can get a pedometer for just a few $ at most department stores.

I hope you have a chance to look around the site and read some of the past posts also. There are a lot of ideas for various exercises if you decide you want to do something other than walking.

Good luck & stay with us. It might take a while but we'll get you going. lol

I would agree with lucinda in that you can sustain the brisk walking longer than the jogging and will likely burn more calories. I think you will do fine - just keep working at it and make sure you watch what you eat.

It might be helpful to keep a food journal to keep track of what/how much you eat. There are several web sites that let you do that online. Spark people and live strong are 2 of them.

I'd also recommend that you go ahead and set up the exercise and weight trackers here on MedHelp. They will help you keep track of what you are really doing.

I also recommend that you wear a pedometer - that way you can tell exactly how far you are walking on a daily basis. I put mine on everyday when I get dressed for work and don't take it off until I get home and get undressed again. Today I actually did 9976 steps or 5.98 miles - that was just at work, then walking the dogs when I got home!! The goal is 10,000 steps/day, but often I do more than that - I bet you do too. You can get a pedometer for just a few $ at most department stores.

I hope you have a chance to look around the site and read some of the past posts also. There are a lot of ideas for various exercises if you decide you want to do something other than walking.

Good luck & stay with us. It might take a while but we'll get you going. lol

You asked for someone with experience. Almost 3 years ago, I began losing weight (ending up losing 70+ pounds). I started out by WALKING ONLY - and, it was brisk by some standards, but not that brisk by others.

In 4 1/2 months, I had lost 40 or so pounds (and when I started out, I was recovering from knee surgery). PLUS, in those 4 1/2 months, I lost 19.375 inches that I know of. I didn't take my measurements until I had been walking for a couple of weeks.

Around this time (4 1/2 month mark), it became too cold/icy to walk outside (and I had more minor surgery). I began strength-training. At this time, the inches slid off my body and the pounds did, too. I reached the 70+ pound weight-loss mark (and had 1 more minor surgery some time in there, too!) within 4 months.

SO, do I believe in walking? YOU BET I DO!

Flip side of the coin? I gained some of the weight back last year (33lbs). I am now within 9 lbs of my goal AGAIN. But, because I am NOT walking, I am NOT losing the inches I was before. So, when I weighed back THEN what I weigh NOW, my waist and hips were smaller - because of the walking.

You do NOT lose inches running/jogging like you lose inches walking (of course, running/jogging are great forms of burning calories, but rough on your joints). My boss at the YMCA teaches 15-17 classes/week every week. She absolutely HAS to have her knees :o) She says she would NEVER be a runner and when she sees people limping, she asks them if they are or ever were runners. More often than not, they are or were. She's so glad she never took it up. There are so many other things you can do to get fit and stay in shape!

Good luck. I hope this helps! Oh, and by the way: there are a million different opinions. I can only speak for what worked for me!

You asked for someone with experience. Almost 3 years ago, I began losing weight (ending up losing 70+ pounds). I started out by WALKING ONLY - and, it was brisk by some standards, but not that brisk by others.

In 4 1/2 months, I had lost 40 or so pounds (and when I started out, I was recovering from knee surgery). PLUS, in those 4 1/2 months, I lost 19.375 inches that I know of. I didn't take my measurements until I had been walking for a couple of weeks.

Around this time (4 1/2 month mark), it became too cold/icy to walk outside (and I had more minor surgery). I began strength-training. At this time, the inches slid off my body and the pounds did, too. I reached the 70+ pound weight-loss mark (and had 1 more minor surgery some time in there, too!) within 4 months.

SO, do I believe in walking? YOU BET I DO!

Flip side of the coin? I gained some of the weight back last year (33lbs). I am now within 9 lbs of my goal AGAIN. But, because I am NOT walking, I am NOT losing the inches I was before. So, when I weighed back THEN what I weigh NOW, my waist and hips were smaller - because of the walking.

You do NOT lose inches running/jogging like you lose inches walking (of course, running/jogging are great forms of burning calories, but rough on your joints). My boss at the YMCA teaches 15-17 classes/week every week. She absolutely HAS to have her knees :o) She says she would NEVER be a runner and when she sees people limping, she asks them if they are or ever were runners. More often than not, they are or were. She's so glad she never took it up. There are so many other things you can do to get fit and stay in shape!

Good luck. I hope this helps! Oh, and by the way: there are a million different opinions. I can only speak for what worked for me!

This is a very quick reply, and not technical at all. What I have heard is that if you walk briskly, your body stays in a more neutral mode, and you are burning fat. When you run or jog, your body goes into overdrive and instead of burning fat, you start to burn something else, maybe glucose? If you keep running, your body will burn up all of this "glucose" and then switch to fat. So, for short workouts, walking burns more fat than jogging. But for longer workouts, jogging wins hands down.

This is a very quick reply, and not technical at all. What I have heard is that if you walk briskly, your body stays in a more neutral mode, and you are burning fat. When you run or jog, your body goes into overdrive and instead of burning fat, you start to burn something else, maybe glucose? If you keep running, your body will burn up all of this "glucose" and then switch to fat. So, for short workouts, walking burns more fat than jogging. But for longer workouts, jogging wins hands down.

Hello, I was reading about your question on the net. Here is a pretty good answer.

Add to the fact that most aerobic activity, including jogging, barely taps into the fat stores the first 30 to 45 minutes as the glycogen stores (sugar) in the muscles must be used up first. This is not widely recognized and is one of the reasons for the frustration exercisers have with months of aerobics classes with little results. The science behind this is explained clearly in our book "2 Days To Fitness".

Hello, I was reading about your question on the net. Here is a pretty good answer.

Add to the fact that most aerobic activity, including jogging, barely taps into the fat stores the first 30 to 45 minutes as the glycogen stores (sugar) in the muscles must be used up first. This is not widely recognized and is one of the reasons for the frustration exercisers have with months of aerobics classes with little results. The science behind this is explained clearly in our book "2 Days To Fitness".

As title states, I am approx. 4 stone overweight (obese) and have been out jogging last night and the night before. I do a lot of brisk walking throughout the week in the daytime and feel ready to pick the pace up a bit under the cover of darkness!!
I am out for about 30 mins in total and ease the walking up to brisk then into bursts of jogging as long as I can manage, then back down to brisk walking. I recover from the jogging bursts and can go again pretty quickly but can probably only manage to jog for about 2-3 minutes at a time at this stage.
When I get home, I take care to stretch my muscles out and replace lost fluids.
When I get back I feel awesome and love the warm feeling in my legs and muscles (never thought I'd say that!) This morning, I have slight achiness in my shins - not the bone, but the muscle (?) that runs down the outside edge? Is this okay? Does this mean I should not go tonight? I really enjoy it - releases stress well!
I am new here so 'hello everyone and thanks in advance for any replies'.
:0)

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